Big Brother 1 (US)
|castphoto = |video = |executiveproducer = Allison Grodner Arnold Shapiro |announcers = Don Wollman Phil Proctor |nextseason = Big Brother 2 (US) }}Big Brother 1, also known as Big Brother 2000, was the first season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It began on July 5, 2000 and aired on CBS for 88 days, concluding on September 29, 2000 when Eddie McGee was crowned the winner with votes from America. Season 1 of Big Brother is radically different from following American seasons of the series. It was a near-exact port of the hit Netherlands series of the same name. Every week, Housemates would nominate two fellow housemates and the two or more housemates with the most nominations were eligible for banishment. American viewers could then call a 1-900 number and cast a vote to evict a HouseGuest. There was no Head of Household, Power of Veto, or Food Competitions, but rather the HouseGuests would have to complete Weekly Tasks (also called Week Long Challenges) to win rewards for the house. There were 6 episodes every week: a one-hour live eviction show, and five 30-minute daily recaps. Background Development The series first launched in Netherlands, with editions in countries such as Germany proving to be hits with the public. Following the international success of the series, a bidding war for the rights to series engaged between CBS, ABC, and a cable network,with the series initially set to last 100 days. Ultimately, it was confirmed that the show had been picked up by CBS for an estimated $20 million. On the concept, Romer stated "The show is all about human interactions. It's people who are, loving each other, hating each other. They fight, they cry, they laugh -- all emotions, we'll see in the house." In a later interview, Romer added "The first thing people think of when they hear the Big Brother idea are the sexual things, the nudity, the sexual activity in the house ... That's not what the show is about." The series was one of the first reality shows to air in the US, and required a crew of over 150 people. Hosts The first season of Big Brother featured two hosts, Julie Chen as the main host and Ian O'Malley as a co-host. Casting The cast for the series was revealed during the premiere. HouseGuest William was revealed to be a member of the Black Panther Party, while Jamie was crowned Miss Washington USA the year prior to her participation on the show. HouseGuests Curtis and Josh had done modeling prior to entering the house. Jean Jordan had been an exotic dancer before entering the house, while Karen and George were married and had children. Cassandra and William were both African-American. Series creator John de Mol later stated "The 10 people in our house, you can relate to them. It's the girl next door, it's the guy in the grocery store ... It's ordinary people, and I think that Big Brother proves ordinary people can be interesting." Airing & Schedule The first season of Big Brother premiered on July 5, 2000. The premiere was filmed on July 4, 2000. The series initially aired five nights per week, though a sixth episode was later added into the schedule. The addition of a sixth episode per week caused the live banishment episode to move to Wednesday instead of Thursday. Four of these episodes were half-hour daily recap episodes, while one episode was an hourly-long weekly recap; the sixth episode was the live banishment. During the live banishment, the HouseGuest who exits the house was subject to an interview with host Julie Chen. The first season had a total of 70 episodes, the most for any season to date. This season lasted for a total of 88 days. Theme Song The theme song for the series, known as "Live", was performed by Jonathan Clarke. It was played during the closing credits of each episode, and segments of the theme were played throughout the show. Live Feeds Viewers of the series could also watch the live feeds in the house, which were available for free on the official website. The feed was edited for music copyrights and to protect the privacy of some contestants. The feeds also featured a disclaimer for users under the age of 21, due to unedited aspect to the feeds. The House The house used for the first season was a one story house with two bedrooms, a kitchen and dining room, and one bathroom. The house was an estimated 1,800 square feet, and was located at the CBS Studio Center in Hollywood, California. Throughout the house, there are a total of 28 cameras making all areas of the house visible to the cameras, and 60 microphones.During their stay in the house, the HouseGuests were required to wear microphones at all times, ensuring everything they said in the house was heard. Throughout the house the walls are lined with two way mirrors, with a production team filming behind them. The bedrooms featured infrared imaging cameras, allowing the cameras to continue filming while the rooms were dark. The design of the house included bad feng shui, clashing colors and positioning. The house featured bright colors as part of its theme, with the kitchen being a bright blue and the living room yellow. The two bedrooms in the house were identical, with both featuring a bunk bed and three single beds. The bathroom featured one toilet, one shower, a washboard and a washtub. The Red Room was where HouseGuests were required to share their thoughts on the events in the house, and were often given tasks. The backyard of the house featured a patio area where the HouseGuests could sit outside. The backyard also featured a chicken coop, and the HouseGuests were able to use the eggs from the chickens as food. Houseguests Potential Houseguest After Week 9 in the Big Brother house, it was revealed that the six remaining houseguests would be offered $20,000 at the live eviction show. If one of the houseguests took the offer, then they would have to walk from the game. If a houseguest took the money and walked, they would be replaced by a woman named Beth. Weekly Tasks Nominations History Game History Week 1 & Week 2 On Day 1, Brittany Petros, Cassandra Waldon, Curtis Kin, Eddie McGee, Karen Fowler, George Allen Boswell, Jamie Marie Kern, Jean Jordan, Josh Souza, and William Collins entered the Big Brother House. On Day 7, HouseGuests were given their first weekly task. They were given the names of dozens of celebrities and had to state whether they were dead or alive. They were given days to attempt to recall the correct answers and would be quizzed about it at a later date. They wagered 20% of their weekly budget on this task, which they ultimately failed. William intentionally failed his portion of the challenge, upsetting many of the other HouseGuests. On Day 9, the HouseGuests participated in their first round of nominations. William and Jordan were announced as the nominees this week, with William receiving six nominations and Jordan receiving five. The next day, the HouseGuests were later given their new task, which required them to ride a stationary exercise bike to achieve a total distance of 1,000 miles. They wagered 50% of their weekly budget on this task, which they passed. On Day 16, William Collins became the first HouseGuest to be banished from the house after he received 73% of the public vote. Week 3 & Week 4 On Day 20, HouseGuests are given their new weekly challenge, in which they had days to practice making a set of dominoes fall down in a single session. They had to set up 12,100 dominoes to form the series logo and then make them all fall by knocking only one domino over. The group passed this task, which they wagered 20% on. On Day 22, HouseGuests participated in the second round of nominations. Curtis and Jordan became the second set of nominated HouseGuests this season, with Curtis receiving six nominations and Jordan receiving five nominations. On Day 29, Jordan became the second HouseGuest to be banished from the house after she received 78% of the public vote. Week 5 & Week 6 The HouseGuests were given their new weekly task, which required them to write a poem pertaining to the game. They would then have to jump rope together while the rope holders recited the poem. They had one chance to correctly complete the poem, and failure to do so would result in the group failing the task. They wagered 30% of their shopping budget on the task, which they failed. That night, it was revealed that Cassandra, Josh, and Karen had been marked for banishment due to a tie in the nomination process between Cassandra and Karen. That same night, the HouseGuests received a pug named Chiquita. HouseGuests were later given their new weekly task, in which they were required to make eight raspberry and eight blueberry pies, and split into teams named after the various pies. The first team to eat all eight of their pies would choose how the weekly allowance was spent. Curtis, Josh, Jamie, and Karen were on team raspberry and Eddie, George, Cassandra, and Brittney were on team blueberry. After eating all eight of their pies, team raspberry won the weekly task. On Day 43, Karen became the third HouseGuest to be banished from the house as she had received 76% of the public vote. Week 7 & Week 8 The HouseGuests were given their new weekly task, which required them to memorize all of the major highways in the country. They would then be required to state what highways would get them from one city to another. The group wagered 20% of their shopping budget on this task, which they passed. During their first luxury competition, HouseGuests competed in a sumo wrestling competition in an attempt to win a luxury massage. Eddie was the winner, with former HouseGuest William secretly giving him a bad massage. On Day 50, the HouseGuests participated in their fourth round of nominations. Due to a tie in the voting, Brittany, Cassandra, Curtis, Eddie, George, and Josh were all marked for banishment. For their next weekly task, the HouseGuests were required to have two HouseGuests dancing at all times. When cued, all HouseGuests would be required to dance at the same time. They passed this task, which they wagered 20% of their weekly budget on. On Day 57, Jamie was given a live task in which she was able to co-host the episode with Julie Chen, including announce who had been banished from the house. That night, it was revealed that Brittany had become the fourth HouseGuest to be banished from the house when she received 34% of the public vote. Week 9 & Week 10 HouseGuests were given their new weekly task, which required them to build a puzzle that featured 4,928 pieces by the end of the week. The group wagered 50% of their weekly shopping budget on this task, which they failed. On Day 64, it was revealed that Cassandra, Curtis, and Eddie had been marked for banishment. Following this, the six remaining HouseGuests were offered $20,000 to walk from the game, with this offer later rising to $50,000. Should one of the HouseGuests accept the offer, a new HouseGuest named Beth was set to enter the house and the nominations would be voided. Ultimately, none of the HouseGuests took the offer, thus Beth did not enter the game. For their new weekly task, the HouseGuests had to train Chiquita to go through an obstacle course. The group passed this task, which they wagered 20% of their weekly budget on. During their second luxury competition, Curtis won the reward of going to the 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards. On Day 71, Cassandra became the fifth HouseGuest to be banished from the house as she had received 46% of the public vote. Week 11 The HouseGuests were given their new weekly task, which required at least one HouseGuest to be juggling at all times. They were not permitted to drop more than two balls, or they would fail the task. The group wagered 50% on the task, which they ultimately failed. That same night, the group made their nominations live for the first time. It was revealed that Curtis, Eddie, George, and Jamie were marked for banishment. The HouseGuests were later given a new weekly task in which they had to write lyrics for the show's theme song, and were later required to record their song in the Red Room, which they passed. During their third luxury competition, the HouseGuests attempted to find Chiquita in the house, with the winner being able to present the weather from inside the house; Josh was the winner. On Day 78, the five remaining HouseGuests were asked to select one of the previously banished HouseGuests to return to the house in a matter of days; they chose Cassandra. That night, George became the sixth HouseGuest to be banished from the house as he had received 51% of the public vote. Week 12 The HouseGuests were given their new weekly task, in which they were required to determine whether or not specific news articles had actually appeared in the news or not. The group wagered 50% of their weekly shopping budget on the task, which they passed. On Day 81, the HouseGuests participated in their final round of nominations. Due to a tie in the voting, all four of the remaining HouseGuests were marked for banishment. Former HouseGuest Cassandra entered the house as a guest that same night, as the HouseGuests had selected her to return days prior. During their fourth and final luxury competition, Josh was selected to become a saboteur in the house, and performed tasks such as setting time back on the potato clock. If one of the other three HouseGuests correctly guessed that Josh was the saboteur, they would win a new flat screen television; Curtis won this prize. On Day 85, Jamie became the seventh HouseGuest to be banished from the house as she had received 31% of the public vote. Chiquita also exited the house that night, and was adopted by a couple upon her exit. Finale During the Finale, it was revealed that Curtis had come in third place, receiving 14% of the public vote to win, leaving Eddie and Josh as the Final 2. Minutes later, it was revealed that Josh had come in second place with 27% of the public vote, meaning Eddie had been crowned the winner with a total of 59% of the public vote. Trivia * This was the first season where all members of the Final 3 were eligible to win the season at the final vote. ** It would later be followed by Big Brother: Over The Top. * Thus far, this season has the smallest amount of total HouseGuests with 10, a figure unlikely to be beaten due to the current format of the show. * This is the only season represented in Big Brother All-Stars to not have more than one representative competing. * This is the first season to have a dog in the Big Brother house. On week 3, the HouseGuests were given a dog named Chiquita who stayed in the house until Day 85. ** It was followed by Big Brother 16, when the Final 5 was given a dog named Izzy for a few hours. * This is the only season to have two hosts, Julie Chen and Ian O’Malley. ** However, Ian O'Malley only appeared in 3 episodes. After that, he never appeared on Big Brother 1 (or any other season of Big Brother) again. * This season holds the record for having the most HouseGuests on the block with 6, a figure unlikely to be beaten due to the current format of the show. * This is the first season where America voted for the winner. It would later be followed by Big Brother: Over The Top. * The season finale of Big Brother 1 garnered more viewers than the 2000 Summer Olympics. * Cassandra Waldon passed away on September 25, 2019, becoming the first female United States contestant to pass away, and second overall following Kent Blackwelder. Category:Seasons Category:United States (English) Seasons